Creetown Now and Then

The story of a Ferry Toun merchant seduced by the profits of human slavery.
In the mid-18th Century, when Ferrytoun of Cree was little more than a hamlet, many of the residents were
sailors, with more than a few ‘Master Mariners’ and boat owners. As observed by Heron (Journey through
Scotland 1797), the predominant cargoes were lime, coals, salt, grocery goods, liquors and wood.
Accordingly, there were a few merchants operating successfully, many of whom would hold a part share in a
ship. One family of merchants were the Hughans who occupied the original Burns house, a farm house,
prior to extensive modification to the house now known as Hill of Burns or Hill House. Thomas Hughan
(1695-1750) has the unusual honour of the only local grave stone with Ferry Town of Cree inscribed. The
Stone is also marked Thomas Hughan Merchant. It can still be seen in the old Kirkmabreck grave yard,
though it had fallen and was largely covered in moss the last time I ventured up there.
Thomas had family connections with the Hughans of Buittle in Kirkcudbrightshire, but his place of birth is
not recorded. There were certainly Hughans in the Ferry Toun from the very early 1700’s and elsewhere as
the baptism records show a number of families, mostly on farms, though some in the village itself.
The family at Burns were Catholic, so records are scant.
Using the Kirkmabreck Gravestone as our starting point, In the early 1700’s we have Thomas, Merchant of
Ferrytown of Cree, who married Elizabeth McCulloch (1699-1771). They had a son, Alexander, also a
merchant in Ferry Toun, who married one Margaret Gerran. They had two sons, Thomas and Alexander, and
a daughter Jean, later known as Jane. Alexander senior died in 1771 aged just 36, but his wife Mary
(Margaret) remained in Burns until her death in 1810.
Alexander Hughan had a half share in a sloop named ‘Ferry Town Merchant’, which was employed in the
Herring Fishing Industry, for which he was still owed a bounty at his death. When he died, he left a
considerable estate, his eldest son Thomas being named main beneficiary and Executor of the will despite
being only 12 or 13 years old. His wife inherited ‘life rent’ of the house and furnishings, along with an
annuity, while the children were also well provided for, a particular emphasis being on the provision of
tutors, who included the Rev Samuel Brown, minister of Kirkmabreck and, father of Thomas Brown, the
famed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University.
(I need to clarify here that the family home is Burns House (i.e., Hill of Burns). Other members of the
Hughan family resided at Burns Park, the farmhouse on the Old Military Road which is now known as
Drumraik.)
The family had good connections, and when Thomas came of age, he was employed by the west India
company owned by Robert Milligan of Dumfries, who later set up the West India Dock in London.
Milligan was trading from Kingston Jamaica and when he moved back to London in 1781, Thomas Hughan
went to Jamaica and stayed for twelve years, occupying a similar role to his employer. Milligan maintained
interests in plantations which employed slaves and involvement in the shipping of slaves from Africa. By the
time he died in 1809, his estates owned a total of 526 slaves.
While Thomas Hughan was involved in the importation and trade of timber, coffee and various other types
of merchandise to and from the Americas and the West Indies, it was probably through the human slave
market that he acquired his wealth.
Although he maintained his links with Milligan, he also bought into other concerns, including a partnership
with Richard Miles and Robert Taylor, both of whom had long associations with the slave trade and shared
ownership of a slave ship ‘Trusty’.
Richard Miles was a prominent African slave trader and had been Governor at the English controlled Cape
Coast Castle in Ghana in the late 1770s before becoming a merchant trader himself. From Ghana he would
purchase slaves on his own behalf for later sale to arriving ships.
During the period 1772 to 1780 Miles obtained and sold in excess of 2200 slaves, and was well known for
the act of "bulking" his slaves. That is, he would buy numbers of slaves and group them together in pens for
several weeks before the arrival of slave ships, allowing him to sell them to the Europeans at higher than
the going rate for single or smaller groups of slaves.
Richard Miles also had what was referred to by the British as a "country wife". This was an arrangement
whereby a European man set up house with a black woman, either free or a slave, in a kind of 'common
law' marriage. Richard and his "country wife" Sal had a son, and when Richard returned to England his son
went with him, attending the same boarding school as other members of his family.
Thomas Hughan's other partner, Robert Taylor, also had a long family association with slavery, particularly in
Jamaica. Robert’s cousin was Simon Taylor (1740-1813), often referred to in literature as a "Jamaican sugar
tycoon". When Simon was called to give evidence in The House of Lords in a 1792 enquiry into the State of
the Slave Trade to Africa, he admitted to having upwards of 4,600 slaves on his plantations.
Meanwhile, Thomas Hughan had a relationship with Margaret Hook of Jamaica, in which they had three
children, two daughters, Margaret and Jane, and a son, Thomas, who died in infancy. The children were
baptised in Kingston Jamaica and described as ‘Quadroon’; a quarter part of African descent.
Margaret Hook was the daughter of merchant Duncan Hook, whose relationship with a ‘mulatto’ (half-
white) woman, Elizabeth Duncan, resulted in a family of three daughters and four sons.
Duncan had to have a special Act of Assembly passed to give his mistress and their children the same legal
status as English subjects in Jamaica. This was granted on 21st of December, 1776, as follows:
"An Act to entitle Elizabeth Duncan, of the parish of St Elizabeth, in the county of Cornwall, and island of
Jamaica, a free mulatto woman, and Elizabeth Hook, Mary Hook, Margaret Hook, Henry Hook, William
Hook, Thomas Hook, and John Hook, the reputed children of Duncan Hook, merchant, by the said Elizabeth
Duncan, to the same rights and privileges with English subjects, under certain restrictions." This allowed
Elizabeth Duncan and four of the Hook children to be buried in St John's Parish Church yard, St Elizabeth
parish, Cornwall, Jamaica, with their husband and father Duncan Hook.
In 1799, Thomas Hughan entered into a partnership with Robert Taylor and Alexander Renny, in which they
shipped slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. By this time, Thomas was living in London, and also had many
business interests in Liverpool, which had become the leading European slaving port.
In 1805, Alexander Renny resigned his position and the remaining two directors were approached by Simon
Taylor with a new venture, to bring 1,500 slaves from Africa for high profits. Towards the end of the 18 th
century, there was an ever-growing campaign to abolish slavery, and with this in mind, the three saw an
opportunity to take advantage of the higher prices being paid for slaves, due to the scarcity of supply.
Consequently, Thomas Hughan was tasked with the fitting out of two ships in Liverpool, each of which was
to carry 400-450 slaves and 40-45 crew.
The 1790s were very profitable for plantation owners in the Caribbean. This was particularly the case in
Jamaica the slave revolt on St Domingo and the impact of the Napoleonic Wars resulted in the doubling of
the price of plantation sugar, sending the island’s export economy rocketing.
Meantime, Thomas Hughan was building a political career for himself, which led in October 1806 to his
election as member of parliament for Retford. For his maiden speech to the House of Commons, delivered
on February 22, 1807, his subject, not surprisingly, was the Slave Trade Abolition Bill. As an anonymous
reviewer of the speech commented: "Then there is The Man Who Knows: Mr Hughan delivers a maiden
speech, a great deal longer and more controversial than would nowadays be thought suitable." Hughan
went on to oppose the Abolition of Slavery on two occasions.
In fact, he only lasted eight months as MP for Retford before losing the seat which he had purchased at
great expense. He and his supporters (financial backers) then turned their attention to Ireland, where
Hughan was to become member of parliament for Dundalk, a position he held until his death, despite being
unpopular with the Irish he was elected to represent.
Thomas Hughan was joined by his brother Alexander in a number of his ventures, in which they became
very rich indeed. In 1803, Thomas was promoted to director of the West India Dock Company, and in 1805
to Deputy Chairman. He also served as founding member and Director of the Imperial Fire Insurance
Company. Around this time, the brothers were living in Billitir Square in the City of London. Alexander, who
never married, died at the age of 36 and was interred in London.
As he prospered, Thomas Hughan bought the estate of Airds, near Parton in Kirkcudbrightshire, and hence
became known as ‘Thomas Hughan of Airds’. Despite this, he always maintained his Scottish address as ‘The
Hill House’, Creetown.
In 1810, aged 50, he married Jean Milligan, the eldest daughter of his employer Robert Milligan. They lived
at number 12 Devonshire Place, a very prestigious address in the recently built London suburb of Mayfair.
They went on to have one son, also called Thomas, who was born two days after his father’s death,
following a short illness, on 29 October 1811, at the age of 51.
The younger Thomas inherited his father’s vast wealth and the title ‘Hughan of Airds’ and, according to
Pigot’s directory of 1837, retained ownership of the Hill House. The property was extensively re-modelled in
the early 1800s to resemble the grand house we know today…and to rival “The House that Sugar Built” in
Wigtown. Thomas also left large sums to his Jamaica born daughters, Margaret and Jane, both of whom
moved to Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, the slave trade was abolished across the British Empire in 1807, and slavery itself
was brought to an end by the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833…thus putting paid to an enterprise that had
brought great wealth to Thomas Hughan and many of his contemporaries.
Written and researched by Mick MacLeod – edited by Jack McDavid
Sources include http://hughankirkcudbright.blogspot.com/ , Wikipedia,